Can you read this street sign? Eroded paint and rust make it hard to guess what was written on this plate.

Finding places in Angeles City can be challenging. Asking people about a street name and number seldomly yields a solid reply. People know landmarks and they know neighbourhoods. Ask them about Oasis Hotel and they will tell you to drive into a certain direction past a bridge and make a turn to the right on Friendship gate and look for the hotel on the right side just after passing a Korean restaurant. They still find stuff, but it takes time. They probably know the trike dirver on duty, but road signs and not well known. Now, I do know why. People can barely see them. Last week I was looking for Ilang Ilang Street in Clarkview. It was a side street of Don Juico Avenue. Well, I found that sign for Don Juico, but I had to look very closely. Don’t the barangay captains generate income from their taxes to upkeep street signs?

After long search I found some images from the NorthPhilExpo 2011 that took place inside SM Mall. This exhibition about North Luzon was very well visited and highly successful. Too many people and loud music.

These days SM Mall in Clark is noisy and dirty. Not because of being too crowded with Trike drivers, maids, shoppers and employees, but because of construction. Soon SM Clark will be expanding to it’s North side. Stay tuned for my pictorial once it’s new shops are open for public.

Angeles can become very boring after some time. Subic Bay and Olongapo are around 2 hours by car going West on newly built Tarlac highway. The ride next to Mount Pinatubo is more exciting than Barrio Baretto itself. The bario and most beaches like Baloy beach are rather dark and dirty. Unlike in Boracay, nobody cleans the beaches. It’s filled with trash, broken glasses, used condo ms and other treasuries of South China Sea. Hey, maybe some guys are looking for gold from Japanese WWIII ship wrecks? Read the rest of this entry »

Many travelers will love this news: Seair in cooperation with Tiger Airways from Singapore celebrate their first anniversary of their flights from Bangkok to Clark. Their flights are perceived as more accommodating than rival airline Cebu Pacific Air. The only thing that was making me wondering while boarding the flight: their Boeing 737 aircrafts have row 4 missing. I know most airlines don’t offer row 13, but it’s the first aircraft without row 4 ever. Anybody know why?

Boeing 737 aircraft of Seair operating from CRK to BKK 5 times weekly

Tiger Airways offers special pricing with flights starting around 1300 Thai Baht one way from BKK to CRK on North Luzon Island.

Harvests are coming to an end in October, the month of pumkin heads: Time to buy scary costumes and celebrate Halloween on popular Fields Avenue in Angeles City, Pampanga. Halloween is the most fun time of tourist season apart from Christmas. Everybody is happy, photogenic and scared LOL. Filipina bargirls walking around streets with funny costumes to have fun and search for new customers that are even more scary.

Diosdado Macapagal International Airport Terminal Philippines almost ready for operation in July 2012

Soon passengers of arriving international flights to Clark Airport will be able to use flyover gangways to disembark airplanes and no longer need to walk far distances on mosquito trailed ground. During my last arrival and departure on Cebu Pacific Air and SeaAir, my flight was delayed and I had the pleasure of walking around the new terminal. It’s very spacious and there is a VIP lounge for Asiana Airlines and Dragon Air. Great for Flip 18 groups. While International nomination is Clark-Manila Airport CRK, locals simply call it DMIA. Filipino people love abbreviations just like Indians do. The shorter the better to remember. The floor tiling is pretty bad work. Reflections are very uneven, but nothing is perfect in Pampanga. At least it is a great new airport hub and people are able to avoid taxi and bus rides through dense Manila traffic as seen on Bourne Legacy movie, recently.